Suiteness has a unique value proposition — offering customers access to premier suites with amenities such as private entrances, personal butlers and private pools. Naturally, these types of lodgings don’t come cheap, which is one reason it’s important for Suiteness to provide customers with simple ways to finance their purchases. The company teamed up with Affirm, a financial services company that enables retailers to offer customers a variety of payment plans, to make it a reality.

After implementing Affirm, Suiteness experienced a 41% uptick in new, younger customers, and more engagement on its mobile app.

“There is a big change happening to online hotel bookings. Before, people would enter a credit card and it would get authorized, but not charged; and maybe they would pay a deposit,” said Kyle Killion, CEO of Suiteness in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “But now the industry is moving towards paying for your stay before your booking.”

Yet some customers are still used to putting in a deposit for a room and paying in increments, which is “exactly what Affirm allows us to do,” Killion noted.

When searching for a finance provider, Killion said the most important criteria was how easy it was for the customer to check out. Suiteness also wanted the implementation process to be just as easy on their end. (The company was already using Stripe to accept payments.)